Jury funds Nunemaker not guilty

Published: July 21, 2000 12:00 AM

A jury deliberated less than three hours Thursday before finding Steven Nunemaker not guilty of both involuntary manslaughter and aggravated vehicular homicide.

He was acquitted of the May 9, 1999 death of John Stonecipher of Wooster who died in an early morning crash of a car and a semi tractor-trailer at the intersection of Burbank and Milltown Roads.

The trial left open the question of who actually was at the wheel of the Grand Am at the time of the crash. During the four-day trial dozens of witnesses took the stand in the Wayne County Common Pleas courtroom of Judge Mark K. Wiest. Some testified Nunemaker was driving and some said Rodney Wickens of Wooster was operating the car at some 80 miles an hour when it roared through the four-way stop at the intersection of Milltown and Friendsville roads and crashed seconds later into the semi. The impact split the vehicle into halves and killed Stonecipher.

During the three days of testimony, Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Jocelyn Stefancin presented about two dozen witnesses that included law enforcement officers, medical personnel, friends and family members of the defendant and people who arrived on the accident scene moments after the crash.

Defense attorney Dan Lutz, in his turn, called only several witnesses to the stand whose collective testimony comprised less than an hour. Nunemaker, of Wooster, did not take the stand.

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In his closing arguments, Lutz took the testimony of the various law enforcement officers who had been called by the state and used it as a razor with which to shred the fabric of the prosecution's arguments. Lutz particularly focused on the testimony of Wooster patrolman Daniel Austen who was the lead investigative officer at the scene and told the jury he believed at the time of the accident, and continues to believe, that Nunemaker was not driving the vehicle when it crashed.

Lutz also concentrated on what other patrolmen who testified for the state said concerning their belief Wickens' decision to flee the accident scene made it appear he was the driver.

As for Wooster police detective William Hofer's testimony that Nunemaker repeatedly told him he didn't remember who was driving or what had happened at the accident, Lutz said, "Because he doesn't remember, doesn't make him guilty of driving the car that killed John Stonecipher.

"The state's own witnesses claimed that Nunemaker was not the driver -- it was Rodney Wickens," Lutz emphasized to the jury comprised of nine men and three women who got the case at 10 a.m. and announced they had reached their verdict shortly before 1 p.m. "On the state's case alone there is more than enough evidence that Rodney Wickens was driving the car. You're not up here to throw away your common sense."

Lutz also pointed out while Nunemaker willingly gave law enforcement officers blood and hair samples, Wickens had done so only with great reluctance. He also admonished the jury that, "The state is so far below the level (of proof) it is embarrassing. Steve (Nunemaker) was not driving that vehicle and you know it."

When the jury's verdict was announced, Nunemaker, whose implacably neutral expression had not varied throughout the trial, broke down in tears and collapsed into the arms of his mother, friends and family members. Even his attorney was swept up in tears in the emotion of the moment.

Lutz said he believed the jury had made its decision based on the facts clearly laid out in the closing arguments, which he said left a great deal of room for reasonable doubt as to who was driving the car. The attorney said if the verdict had gone the other way and his client would have been found guilty, "I could not have maintained my faith in the jury system."